I'm actually enjoying some of your posts more along these lines. No offense, but a lot of times when I see a post with something that I think resembles programming language, I tend to skim it and move on. (And that's my fault, not yours.) Obviously, I almost never leave you comments, even when I do read your entries. I think this is the first comment I've left you in a while.
With this post, and also with your post about animal rights, you tend to point out what are rather absurd notions that society holds, but you don't have the tone of an activist. Rather, it's observational... and also intelligent.
I will surely be sad to see November end.
...edited to try to sound like less of a dick in paragraph 1.
Yeah, I've had a lot of responses along those lines. 8) Unfortunately, much of what interests me is kinda.. nerdy. Surprise!
This is kinda burning me out as it consumes an hour or two every day which are starting to add up, but I'm glad my handful of readers seem to be enjoying it.
Yeah, I do understand how posts that are actually a bit thoughtful can take up that much time. If you ever look at my journal, most of my posts are usually just a rant typed up in 20 minutes or less, because I don't have the time/patience to do something like this. I also tend to be the kind of person who takes on a very haughty, persuasive tone--the kind of stuff that makes me get annoyed when I read it. That's why I appreciated your posts.
I tend to get seriously irritated when a minority struggling for equality 1) gets advantages over the majority 2) voices itself in an utterly assholeistic manner and makes the majority the proverbial black sheep.
Conveniently, this never happens! I'm sorry, your argument is sounding way too much like the Catholic Church's "how DARE you discriminate against our discrimination!". To pre-empt you: affirmative action is not a case of the minority getting an advantage, it is a case of the minority being lifted up to the level of the majority. Relative to you, they may seem given advantages, but often we on the high ground forget that they started out lower.
Even worse when illegal things done by a minority are forgiven and the same done by a member of a majority is labelled a hate crime in 0.1 s. Conveniently this doesn't happen either. Really, if you're going to make statements like that, please back them up
( ... )
I don't know how well this will come out; generally I'm not so good at discussing the issue. But here goes: I'm going to focus on the second half of your post, because those are the things I want to address most.
Sexism in TV. Okay. Taking your example; you say that the whole thing is meant ironically (or at least partially so) on the part of the writers. This is all well and good, but it's not the intention of the writers that matters when it comes to interpretation. If gender equality was truly realised in our society, this wouldn't be a problem; if the gender was switched it would be the same situation, in which the writers are commenting on (let us say) the ways young people might use sexuality to "get their own way".
However, you have to acknowledge that gender equality is not a reality. There are preconceived notions held by many members of society - the stereotypical representations of women (and men, of course, but in this case women), let's say. One of these stereotypes is the young woman who gets her own way with sexuality
( ... )
It's such a stretch from this superpower to an actual stereotype, though, made worse by the fact that several other people got similarly-ironic powers.
Maybe I'm most uncomfortable with that notion that we should censor anything that might suggest sexist/racist/ableist/whateverist thoughts to anyone looking for them. To me, that emphasizes whatever cultural problem we're trying to avoid far more than some plot device
( ... )
It's such a stretch from this superpower to an actual stereotype, though, made worse by the fact that several other people got similarly-ironic powers.
Not really. You said yourself the power is ironic exactly because she is characterised as (roughly) the sort of stereotype I was describing.
Maybe I'm most uncomfortable with that notion that we should censor anything that might suggest sexist/racist/ableist/whateverist thoughts to anyone looking for them. To me, that emphasizes whatever cultural problem we're trying to avoid far more than some plot device.Not censorship. The idea is to prevent these things from being made in the first place, and if they are made, point out the sexist/racist/ableist/whatever thoughts. The idea being that pointing these things out makes it easier to avoid them in the future. Of course I am not saying the writers are sexist; just that part of the show they are writing appears to have (maybe we should both actually watch it first?) sexist elements. I point this out in the hopes that I can make said
( ... )
My ultimate question is this: if we didn't know of the current stereotypes regarding men and women and how they treat sex, would there be a problem with this power?
I don't think so, which is why I'm having trouble quite seeing the problem, and why I compared it to Asians and math.
A boy who feels invisible becomes invisible. A boy who wishes he could undo something can now undo things. A girl who feels she can control her life with sex gets the power to control everything with sex.
Comments 18
With this post, and also with your post about animal rights, you tend to point out what are rather absurd notions that society holds, but you don't have the tone of an activist. Rather, it's observational... and also intelligent.
I will surely be sad to see November end.
...edited to try to sound like less of a dick in paragraph 1.
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This is kinda burning me out as it consumes an hour or two every day which are starting to add up, but I'm glad my handful of readers seem to be enjoying it.
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I am
gonna rape u
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Conveniently, this never happens! I'm sorry, your argument is sounding way too much like the Catholic Church's "how DARE you discriminate against our discrimination!". To pre-empt you: affirmative action is not a case of the minority getting an advantage, it is a case of the minority being lifted up to the level of the majority. Relative to you, they may seem given advantages, but often we on the high ground forget that they started out lower.
Even worse when illegal things done by a minority are forgiven and the same done by a member of a majority is labelled a hate crime in 0.1 s.
Conveniently this doesn't happen either. Really, if you're going to make statements like that, please back them up ( ... )
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also I can't imagine you socialist UKers actually paying for television
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Sexism in TV. Okay. Taking your example; you say that the whole thing is meant ironically (or at least partially so) on the part of the writers. This is all well and good, but it's not the intention of the writers that matters when it comes to interpretation. If gender equality was truly realised in our society, this wouldn't be a problem; if the gender was switched it would be the same situation, in which the writers are commenting on (let us say) the ways young people might use sexuality to "get their own way".
However, you have to acknowledge that gender equality is not a reality. There are preconceived notions held by many members of society - the stereotypical representations of women (and men, of course, but in this case women), let's say. One of these stereotypes is the young woman who gets her own way with sexuality ( ... )
Reply
Maybe I'm most uncomfortable with that notion that we should censor anything that might suggest sexist/racist/ableist/whateverist thoughts to anyone looking for them. To me, that emphasizes whatever cultural problem we're trying to avoid far more than some plot device ( ... )
Reply
Not really. You said yourself the power is ironic exactly because she is characterised as (roughly) the sort of stereotype I was describing.
Maybe I'm most uncomfortable with that notion that we should censor anything that might suggest sexist/racist/ableist/whateverist thoughts to anyone looking for them. To me, that emphasizes whatever cultural problem we're trying to avoid far more than some plot device.Not censorship. The idea is to prevent these things from being made in the first place, and if they are made, point out the sexist/racist/ableist/whatever thoughts. The idea being that pointing these things out makes it easier to avoid them in the future. Of course I am not saying the writers are sexist; just that part of the show they are writing appears to have (maybe we should both actually watch it first?) sexist elements. I point this out in the hopes that I can make said ( ... )
Reply
I don't think so, which is why I'm having trouble quite seeing the problem, and why I compared it to Asians and math.
A boy who feels invisible becomes invisible. A boy who wishes he could undo something can now undo things. A girl who feels she can control her life with sex gets the power to control everything with sex.
But yes, perhaps we should actually watch it. 8)
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